ABOUT US


    Mid Wales Storage Centre was established in 1998

    We were one of the earliest self-storage facilities to open in Mid Wales.

    The building was a former National School built in 1829 with local bequests, where children who could not afford to go to school could be taught in the principles of Church of England.

    In the early 19th Century the National Schools Society was keen to set up schools all over England & Wales and Machynlleth was no exception – at that time the majority of children in working families had no education at all, unless they were lucky to attend Sunday School – poor families often needed to send their children out to work so they could earn.

    The school was built in 1829 – John Jones of Llynlloedd donated £1000 so children could be taught in the principles of Church of England – in 1833 a further bequest of £40 was received from Ann Jones to help provide for a School Master – in 1886 there were 157 boys attending and 111 girls.   Parents were very keen for their children to be able to read & write so they could get a better job and avoid the harsher and badly paid work in the mines, quarries and factories.

    As the National School Society was Church of England, it insisted that children came into scroll on Sunday morning for religious instruction and attend the parish Church twice during the day. Parents who went ot Chapel, had to decide whether to keep their children away from school or let them attend a church which they did not agree with.  The teachers at Machynlleth National School seemed to have been sympathetic as they let the Chapel children off both the Church service and religious instruction.

    Another rule of the National School was every child was required to pay one penny per month towards their education – this does not sound a lot of money today, however in the early part of Queen Victoria’s reign, many labourers earned much less than £1 per week – sending children to school was almost a sacrifice as some of the older children could have been working and earning a wage – again, the National School was very sympathetic to the parents’ difficulties and a report in 1847 complained the school allowed children to attend without paying. 

    By the end of the Victorian period, free schools were in operation across the area and it became compulsory for all children to attend school.

     

    In the 1950’s a factory was built on to the original building and run by a clothing firm – Cardwells – making ladies’ dresses, this was taken over a few years later by E. Walters (Ludlow), the second-largest manufacturers of men’s trousers at that time who supplied multinational companies like Marks & Spencer’s and part of the old school was used as a factory shop – the factory closed in the early 1990’s due to competition from overseas imports.

    Due to increased demand for space we opened our second facility in 2003 and our third facility in 2019 also in Machynlleth – just on the other side of town on Treowain Enterprise Park.

    We offer a wide range of secure storage units in various sizes from the capacity of a small transit van size to the contents of a 4 to 5 bedroom house – our storage quotes are all-inclusive with no hidden extras.